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Six Nations judgment day has enough riding on it to be an all-time classic

A tournament that has produced tries galore reaches its glorious climax on Super Saturday with England and Ireland hot on the heels of favourites France

The best Six Nations campaigns tick two crucial boxes. The first is a consistent sense of jeopardy from start to finish and the second is a level of entertainment that elevates the tournament into the mainstream consciousness. When both occur simultaneously, as they have done this year, the championship’s final round ranks among the most gripping days in modern team sport.

This particular “Super Saturday” certainly has all the necessary spicy ingredients, starting with the prospect of France’s second title since 2010 if they can beat Scotland in Paris. A bonus-point win for England over Wales in Cardiff, though, could yet be enough to sneak the trophy in the event of a breathless Scotland win. Which, from a Scottish perspective, looms as the ultimate catch-22 scenario.

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SRC Cup finalists to be decided in final round of pool games

Pontypool head coach Tom Hancock has pledged to pick his strongest side for tonight’s Super Rygbi Cymru Cup tie in Newport even though getting through to the final is a long shot. The Gwent derby will at least set a target for Ebbw Vale in Pool B when they complete their pool campaign at Swansea […]

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Italy to host rugby’s next generation with World Rugby U20 Championship 2025

World Rugby has today confirmed that Italy will host the World Rugby U20 Championship 2025 from 29 June-19 July with matches held in four cities across the Lombardia and Veneto regions. It will be the third time that Italy has hosted the prestigious tournament featuring the 12 best U20 teams in the world but the […]

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Lynn names 37-strong Wales Women squad for Six Nations

Sean Lynn

Wales head coach Sean Lynn has announced his first squad for the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign. Lynn, who will lead his club side Gloucester/Hartpury in their third successive PWR final on Sunday, has named a 37-player squad for the tournament. Wales open their campaign away to Scotland on Saturday, March 22nd (KO: 4.45pm). […]

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England’s potential bus trip for Six Nations trophy is not only fork in road | Gerard Meagher

England will drive back to an empty stadium if France slip up, but their performance in Cardiff will define campaign

If all goes well for England, somewhere around half past nine on Saturday they will be preparing to clamber on to the team bus and head back to the stadium. They will have decamped to their hotel a couple of miles away in Cardiff Bay but if they have held up their end of the bargain against Wales and it appears that Scotland could do them a favour, England are due back at the Principality Stadium just after 10pm for a possible trophy presentation.

It will be a replica trophy in Cardiff – the real thing is in Paris given France remain hot favourites – but broadcasters and sponsors want their champagne moment, come what may, and as a result England must oblige, even in an empty stadium. It means that England could be left a touch red-faced if France leave it late to put Scotland to the sword. All dressed up at the Principality with nowhere to go.

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Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom handed two-year jail sentence in France

  • Former Narbonne president has faced financial charges
  • Elsom not in court and his whereabouts remain unknown

The former Australia rugby union captain Rocky Elsom was sentenced to two years in prison by a French court on Friday, for misusing corporate assets during his time as the club president of Narbonne.

Elsom was also fined €100,000 (A$109,000) with half of that sum suspended. The 42-year-old did not appear in court; his whereabouts are currently unknown and a French arrest warrant has been issued against him.

Having taken charge of the southern French club Narbonne from 2015-16, Elsom went on trial for embezzling club funds by making unjustified expenditures to pay a coach or a general manager who was living in Australia at the time.

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Sherratt: ‘It’s about getting that balance between heart and brain’

Matt Sherratt

Matt Sherratt will be back at Cardiff Rugby on Monday but admits he might have to delay his return to the Arms Park if he can get his Wales side to beat England in their Guinness Six Nations finale at Principality Stadium this weekend. After games against Ireland and Scotland, Sherratt leads Wales for the […]

The post Sherratt: ‘It’s about getting that balance between heart and brain’ appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.

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Wales U18 set for season opener against Scotland

The Wales U20 team will complete their Six Nations campaign against England at the Arms Park tonight, but the age-grade international action continues apace with Wales U18 meeting their Scottish counterparts at Kingston Park, Newcastle on Sunday. (3pm kick-off). It is the first step on the international ladder for the youngsters, who have only three […]

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England must be ruthless against Wales – and that is the blueprint for the future | Ugo Monye

Context dictates that England have to be on the front foot in Cardiff – let’s have that as their modus operandi

Play the match, not the occasion. Lap up the theatre, the dramatics, the pyrotechnics, the hostility, if that is what gets you going, but when you cross the white line, play what is in front of you. If there is one message that should have been hammered home to England’s players this week, it is exactly that.

Sport rarely plays out the way we fully expect it to, otherwise the Principality Stadium would not be sold out on Saturday, there would not be a growing sense of belief among Wales supporters that this is the day their desperate run of defeats ends, there would not be a nervousness, a tension among England fans heading to Cardiff. It’s why we love our sport but if England can play the match and not the occasion, they have the potential and the players to put Wales away comfortably.

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Lewis and Hawkins heading home to boost Welsh pro clubs

Two Welsh internationals are returning from English clubs this summer to play for in the BKT United Rugby Championship. The 57-times capped Harlequins tight head prop Dillon Lewis has signed for Dragons RFC, while the 22-year-old Joe Hawkins is leaving Exeter Chiefs to join the Scarlets in a major double boost for the Welsh professional […]

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Wales XV named for Six Nations finale against England

Joe Roberts and Aaron Wainwright

Senior men’s head coach Matt Sherratt has named the Wales team to play England in the final round of the 2025 Guinness Six Nations at a sold-out Principality Stadium, Cardiff on Saturday 15 March (KO 16.45h GMT, live on BBC and S4C). There are two personnel changes to the starting line-up that faced Scotland in […]

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‘A rugby incident’: Ireland’s Simon Easterby defends Beirne and Porter

  • Head coach addresses incident with Antoine Dupont
  • Scotland make two changes for trip to Paris

Ireland’s interim head coach, Simon Easterby, has expressed disappointment with comments made by his France counterpart, Fabien Galthié, over Antoine Dupont’s injury. Les Bleus won 42-27 in Dublin on Saturday to end Ireland’s grand slam hopes and move into pole position for the Six Nations title. But the post-match discussion was dominated by the season-ending knee injury suffered by the France captain.

The 28-year-old scrum-half ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament when the Ireland forwards Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Beirne cleared out a ruck. Galthié said the actions of Beirne and Porter were “reprehensible” and reported the pair to the match’s citing commissioner, but no retrospective action has been taken.

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‘It is not too dissimilar’: England’s Earl happy to make central switch if needed

  • 6-2 bench split means Earl will provide cover at centre
  • “Half the stuff I do is as a 12 anyway,’ says back-rower

Ben Earl has said he would take a shift to playing at centre against Wales in his stride on Saturday after Steve Borthwick revealed the back-rower is the first cab off the rank in the event of injury.

As England go in search of the bonus-point victory they are likely to need to keep their hopes of winning the Six Nations title alive, the head coach has opted for a 6-2 split on the bench. With three fly-halves in the squad, there is no obvious centre cover and Tommy Freeman is starting there for England for the first time.

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